Before Blackbird could react, he felt a hard force and a gust of wind blow past his ear. He fell downward from the impact, and hit Biao Ting, who had been flying upward below him.

　　There was a crash as the two demon immortals fell back heavily into the pit. This time, the entire hill collapsed under them.

　　“Who was that?” Blackbird roared, emitting red light from every pore in his body. He turned back into his original form – a big bird covered in red flames. He looked up in fury but could not see anything. In the air, the girl he was holding on to slowly floated downward.

　　“Divine… Divine Immortal?” The girl stared blankly around her and then exploded in excitement. She started searching all around for an entity. “Divine Immortal, you’re here, aren’t you? You’ve come to protect me again? I… I knew it… Making offerings was good.”

　　Shen Ying, who went through much difficulty in looking for a way up: “…”

　　If you hadn’t mentioned those offerings, we could have been friends!

　　“Divine Immortal, Divine Immortal, I… Why can’t I see you?”

　　“I forgot to tell you something.” Shen Ying tossed the child aside on the grass and said, “I hate vegetables!”

　　The child paused and then frowned. Suddenly, she looked indignant.

　　“Don’t give me anything anymore, but…” Shen Ying turned around to look at the bird and the beast, who had already taken on their original forms. “The two animals you’ve offered this time aren’t bad. Do you… know how to roast meat?”

　　The child: “…”

　　The two animals: “…”

　　For some reason, Blackbird’s entire bird body tensed up. No matter how hard he tried to use his divine perception, he could not detect the person who spoke. He had no choice but to look in the general direction of the girl and spit out the true flame of life.

　　“Where are you from? How dare you speak like that!”

　　He was just about to spit fire when he felt an intense pain in his head. He opened his mouth, but felt an unknown force pressing his beak closed. The true flame of life he was about to spit had already formed in his throat but was trapped. He could neither swallow it nor spit it out. It began to burn in his throat.

　　Blackbird could not even open his beak to cry out in pain. He writhed around on the ground as he was being burned alive.

　　He struggled with all the immortal Qi in his body but found that his beak still could not open. It was as if it had been sealed shut.

　　The next moment, he was in the air. The unknown force was lifting him off the ground. He had no time to react before he felt another gust of wind beside his ear and he landed on the ground once more with a huge crash.

　　It was not the end. He had now lost control of his entire body. Once again, he was lifted up and thrown down… lifted up and thrown down… and again…

　　It felt like the entire world was echoing the loud crashes.

　　Blackbird felt just like a hammer. Biao Ting, who was being hammered: “…”

　　He had completely… no strength to retaliate!

　　From beginning to end, they could not see was doing this. It was so frightening.Who… the heck is it?!

　　A minute later, everything fell silent.

　　Shen Ying seemed to have realised a problem. “If I’m not wrong, I have to pluck out the feathers and fur before I roast the meat, right?”

　　The Celestial Emperors who had been feigning death: “…”

　　(゚Д゚≡゚Д゚)

　　No!

　　——————

　　The Immortal Realm, in the capital city.

　　The emperors of the seven countries were gathered in the Ge Palace. Immortal Emperor Ge You was seated at the head seat. In front of him, the other emperors sat in two rows. They had rushed over for this meeting. Among them sat three immortal emperors and four young emperors. Ge You scanned these people with an impassive expression, his eyes twinkling. He was unsurprised as he said, “Eh, why isn’t Young Emperor Xun Shu here?”

　　“Emperor Ge You, you know that this Young Emperor Xun has always been a bit of a loner,” said an immortal emperor toward the right. He laughed mirthlessly and continued, “He doesn’t care to show respect to anyone. All these years, he hasn’t turned up at a single Ge Immortal Meeting that Your Majesty has invited us to. Isn’t that right?”

　　“That’s exactly right!” Another Young Emperor called out, obviously unhappy. He seemed to be highly disgusted at Xun Shu’s attitude toward the rest of them. “This Young Emperor Xun is only a young emperor – he is unlike any of us, who have all become immortal emperors and have built countries of our own. He is stuck in his little immortal abode, acting like nothing on the outside world can affect him. This immortal meeting among the emperors of various countries can do without him!”

　　“Huh,” Ge You sighed, his face a mask of worry. “All of you don’t know this – it looks like Young Emperor Xun has misunderstood me after something that happened between us at Lishui River awhile ago. That’s probably why he hasn’t responded to my invitation.”

　　“Lishui River!” They all exclaimed. They had been fellow immortals for over ten thousand years. It was easy for them to detect that Ge You was implying something different from anything they had heard before. They all turned to face him immediately. “Your Majesty, what do you mean by that?”

　　“Speaking of this… it’s really just a misunderstanding.” Ge You’s eyes flashed as he gave another sigh. “All of you know that I’m not a sword immortal, but I often send the disciples under my sect to Yu Feng Immortal Abode to train. I tell them to search for a sword, but my main intention is for them to train themselves. Awhile ago, I sent someone from my sect into the immortal territory, and he met the young emperor inside. Coincidentally, the sword immortal I sent found the divine weapon by chance. The young emperor caught hold of it in the end. I went there to fetch the sword immortal, but I never expected to meet Young Emperor Xun there as well by the Lishui River. He thought I went there to steal the sword. That’s how the misunderstanding occurred.”

　　“The Divine Weapon… and the sword, at that!” All of them exchanged looks, as if they could all read one another’s minds in that moment. Anxiously, they asked, “Your Majesty Ge You, the divine weapon that he found – could it be…”

　　“Yes, it was the Six-Joint Mystics Sword!” Ge You nodded.

　　“What!” The few of them exploded.

　　“It’s really the Six-Joint Mystics Sword?”

　　“I didn’t think the legend was true. It was the divine weapon that split the heavens open.”

　　“Young Emperor Xun is too petty – he gained a divine weapon like that yet did not bother to make a sound.”

　　“Exactly. To think he even misunderstood His Majesty Ge You, thinking that he wanted to steal the sword. He must have snatched the sword from someone else’s hands.”

　　“Isn’t it said that only a Celestial Emperor would be fit to handle this divine weapon? He’s only a Young Emperor – how is he fit to possess the Six-Joint Mystics Sword?”

　　“Pfft! He’s a sword immortal, and now he even has the divine weapon. How would he have eyes for any of us now?”

　　The more they talked, the more agitated and angry they got. It seemed to them that Xun Shu had really done something despicable; they desired to seek justice.

　　Ge You lowered his gaze. He had released the news on purpose. He had expected the other emperors to react this way. Who wouldn’t want a divine weapon like that? So what if he had found the Six-Joint Mystics Sword? Only those who had the power to keep possession of it had the right to keep it.

　　With a divine weapon like that in his hands, how could Xun Shu expect to be left in peace? Other people could forget about having what Ge You could not have.

　　Moreover…

　　“I think we have no choice but to report this to the Celestial Emperor,” an Immortal Emperor suggested at last. “The Six-Joint Mystics Sword is no ordinary weapon. For all we know, the secret to ascending to become a divine being could lie in that very sword. This sword should not remain in Young Emperor Xun Shu’s hands.”

　　“That’s right, this matter is very serious. It concerns the entire Feng Cang continent. We better let Celestial Emperor Chen Ge gain possession of it.” All of them were muttering in agreement.

　　“Fellow emperors, you all do have a point.” Ge You nodded in agreement as well. “But… I heard that Celestial Emperor Chen Ge has already closed the Immortal Rainbow Palace off to any visitors. It’s been this way for more than a thousand years. The immortals who have travelled beyond these skies have never seen the Celestial Emperor themselves. How should we report this matter?”

　　It was then that the group remembered this and frowned. They fell silent for a few minutes before one immortal emperor spoke up.

　　“It indeed is not good to disturb the Celestial Emperor in his rest, but this is no small matter. If the Celestial Emperor finds out about this some other day, he might covet it. When the day that Feng Cang continent loses the sword comes, we will be blamed. Why not…” The immortal turned to address the group and continued, “the eight of us go up to the Heavens beyond Heaven personally and request to report an urgent matter to the Celestial Emperor. He will surely come out to see us.”

　　Upon hearing this, everybody around nodded.

　　Ge You felt a deep sense of satisfaction. Everything was going exactly as he had predicted. Immortal Rainbow Palace has been closed for thousands of years. He had already guessed that this would be a problem. He also received news awhile back that Celestial Emperor Chen Ge was not even in the palace; it was possible that he may not not even be in the Heavens beyond Heaven.

　　The immortal realm already has the richest immortal Qi in the Heavens beyond Heaven – Celestial Emperors would not leave Heavens beyond Heaven for no good reason. If Chen Ge was gone, there could only be one explanation. He was in trouble!

　　If this bunch of immortals go to Immortal Rainbow Palace, they would meet the same fate. Someone would naturally have to take the place of the Celestial Emperor in charge of Feng Cang continent. Ge You was already the strongest and most capable cultivator among the nations. This was a one in a million chance, and the circumstances were extremely favourable. As long as he could make it to the top, he would not allow Chen Ge to return.

　　The plan he had thought about for so long finally culminated in this. Whether his plan would succeed depended on this final step. He could not afford any mistakes.

　　Ge You’s heart jumped. He sucked in a deep breath and regained his composure. Standing up, he said in a low voice, “If that’s the case, we shall…”

　　Bam!

　　Before he could finish, the great hall began to shake violently. There was a crash above head – Ge You saw a big hole in the ceiling. The isolation array that had been set up within the hall broke apart and a white-robed figure was now standing amongst them. The figure pointed his sword toward the man seated at the head and shouted.

　　“Undo the spell you cast on my master, or else I will not let you off!”